Feature Story

HISTORICAL LINCOLN ZEPHYR '36 TO '48

by Bob Hagin

February 14, 1997

Unfortunately, 1996 slipped by without fanfare for the 60th
anniversary of the '36 Lincoln Zephyr. This is surprising since the car
justly deserves the title "The Car That Saved Lincoln." Without it, the
Lincoln name might have sunk into oblivion.

In case you weren't around to experience them, the '30's were not
good times. The end of the '20s ushered in The Great Depression and the
car market took a nose dive, especially those brands on the big-ticket
end of the spectrum. Lots of classy machinery bit the dust during that
decade and now marques like Duesenberg, Pierce-Arrow, Marmon, du Pont
and Peerless are only found in museums and automotive history books.

A couple of prestige makes hung on during those nightmare times and
it was usually because they had a more economical model to sell along
with their "carriage-trade" carriages. Cadillac relied on its clone, the
La Salle Series 50, to see it through, while Packard brought out its
middle-priced 110 and 120 models to keep it afloat.

For survival, Lincoln had its Zephyr V12 - but the Ford-owned
company had a problem that the other two didn't have to face. The Ford
Motor Company was literally an industrial kingdom and Henry Ford I was
its Mad King. The history of the company and the Ford family would have
made a fine plot for a Shakespearian tragedy.

Old Henry (as differentiated from his grandson, Henry II) was an
autocrat and a tyrant. He seemed to take delight in tormenting and
degrading his only son, Edsel, who was ostensibly the president of Ford
Motor Company but was in reality the president in name only. Old Henry
ran the show and with an iron hand. Edsel Ford's only automotive source
of solace was in automotive design and operation of the captive Lincoln
Motor Company which he considered his personal noblesse oblige. He was
quoted as saying that his father had made the most popular car in the
world - the Ford Model T - and he wanted to make "his" Lincoln the best.

Henry Ford bought the two-year-old Lincoln Motor Company early in
1922, supposedly to save the reputation and fortunes of Henry Leland,
the aging and venerated engineer who started the company. Leland named
the company after our 16th president and it was his intention to make
Lincoln the American Rolls-Royce. But his firm quickly ran out of money.
When the Lincoln deal was struck, Ford alluded to the fact that Leland
and his son Wilfred would have a free hand in operating the company, but
within six months, the pair were literally tossed out.

Without a doubt, the Lincoln was a high-quality car under the
Lelands, but stodgy and unappealing. Edsel was given a relatively free
reign in upgrading the car, and this he did by commissioning quality
designs as production line models, as well as cataloging a dozen custom
models built by some of the most famous coachbuilders in the world. The
fortunes of Lincoln took off as the cars became bigger, faster and more
prestigious. But The Depression hit in '29 and when 1932 rolled around,
the picture was bleak. Edsel Ford was determined to keep Lincoln from
becoming a casualty and went to the Briggs Body Company for rescue.

John Tjarrda, a young Dutch designer, was working for Briggs at the
time and being an aeronautical engineer by training, was interested in
applying aviation techniques to auto making. He had worked for Briggs
during the time it helped developed the ill-fated Chrysler Airflow
project and had a working knowledge of monocoque body construction and
aerodynamics. He had a design on the boards for a rear-engined
aerodynamic sedan that bore a striking resemblance to the "People's Car"
being developed in Germany. Edsel fell upon it as a savior for Lincoln
and authorized one to be built using a Ford V8 engine for the Chicago
World's Fair of 1934 where it caused a sensation. Thus encouraged, he
pressed on with plans for a production version to be marketed in 1936.

Needless to say, Old Henry had more than a little to say about the
design and insisted that it be front-engined, stopped via mechanically-
operated brakes, and carried on antiquated solid-axle suspension up
front and a torque drive to the rear. In a flash of genius, Edsel
directed Lincoln engineers to tack four more cylinders onto the existing
Ford V8 engine, the result being a low-cost 12-cylinder engine to power
his new Lincoln Zephyr. The name had been purloined from a popular
streamlined passenger train of the day and sales soared. During 1he 1937
sales year, over 30,000 Zephyr coupes, sedans and convertibles were
sold, while sales of its companion, the high-priced Model K, dropped to
under 1000. The days of that luxurious behemoth were at an end and in
1940 only two were sold. Ironically, they were holdovers from the 1939
production run.

The Tjarrda Zephyr design became the only Lincoln model offered for
sale and it was continually updated until the end of its production life
in 1948. The Zephyr name was dropped after World War II but Ford used it
again in 1978 on its mid-sized Mercury sedan, dropping it with when that
company introduced its front-drive Topaz mid-sized car.

During the '30s, a dozen or more auto makes disappeared, victims of
The Great Depression. Lincoln dealers can thank Edsel Ford and his
spectacular Lincoln Zephyr for saving their brand from the same fate.